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Friday, July 4, 2014

Earth to Echo - Miniview

In an effort to get more reviews posted in a timely manner, I have created the "MiniView" which is a less comprehensive yet still informative version of my normal movie reviews.

Earth to Echo is an adventure film about a group of kids who find themselves on an otherworldly adventure. This family friendly motion picture was directed by Dave Green and stars a relatively unknown cast including Teo Halm, Brian "Astro" Bradley, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt, and Jason Gray-Stanford.

After three friends who are about to move away from each other start receiving strange messages on their phones, they decide to spend their last night together following the series of maps that are clearly meant for them to follow. What they find is something so amazing, it will change their lives forever although hot on their tail is a government task force also sent to retrieve whatever it is at the end of the mysterious trail of clues and messages.

When I first sat down in the theater to watch this movie, I was a little worried about how half the seats were filled with small creatures who were constantly talking and shuffling around. Fortunately, when the movie started, all of that laser focused energy went straight to the screen and, aside from a few bathroom runs and emotional meltdowns, the tentative grip on such a collectively short attention span held firm until the credits began to roll. Clearly, this film is meant for kids to enjoy although I imagine most adults will be sufficiently entertained as well, just as I was.

The run time is short enough (89 minutes) to tell the story sufficiently without going too deep into excessive character development or unnecessary back story. I also liked that the cast was filled with fresh faces and didn't lean at all on any type of star power to carry the story which added a sense of believability which is always a key element of hand held camera footage type films. Earth to Echo will instantly remind you of movies that you fell in love with as a kid like E.T. and The Goonies and that same youthful spirit is what makes this such a fun movie to watch.